Murder and Mayhem

Introduction

I.
Doctors
,
Hospitals
,
Illnesses
,
and
Injurie
s

1. Traumatic Injuries and Their Treatment

How Would Death Occur from Blunt Head Trauma?

Can My Heroine Survive an Auto Accident and

Ruptured Spleen?

Where Can My Hero Be Shot and Survive?

Can a Person with Broken Ribs Swim?

What Is the Mechanism of Death in a Suicide by Hanging?

What Wounds Would Result from an Attempted

Suicide with a Gun Placed Under the Chin?

Can a Traumatic Miscarriage Prevent Future Pregnancies?

What Are the Symptoms of a Concussion?

What Happens When You Get the "Wind Knocked

Out of You"?

What Injuries Occur When Someone Is Thrown

Down a Stairway?

What Injuries Occur in a Fall onto Rocks?

What Is the Likely Cause of Death in a Fall Downstairs?

What Happens When Someone's Nose Is Broken?

How Long Will a Black Eye Persist?

Where Would the Spinal Cord Have to Be Injured to Cause Quadriplegia?

Could My Pregnant Character and Her Unborn Child

Survive a Severe Concussion and Near Drowning?

Could Death from Bleeding Be Delayed for Several Days?

What Was the Technique for Limb Amputation in the

Nineteenth Century?

What Are the Physical Limitations of Someone with a

Shoulder Dislocation?

What Are the Symptoms and Treatment of a "Sucking

Chest Wound"?

2. Environmental Injuries and Their Treatment

What Happens When Someone Dies from Exposure?

What Happens When Someone Dies from Dehydration?

What Is the Treatment for Dehydration?

How Long Can Someone Survive in a Freezer?

Does Alcohol Intake Prevent Death from Freezing?

Could Someone Survive in a Roadway Tunnel Where a Forest Fire Raged at Both Ends?

What Happens When Someone Is Struck by Lightning?

Can a Person Stranded at Sea Survive by Drinking His Own Urine?

3. Doctors, Hospitals, and Paramedical Personnel

Can X-Ray Films Be Copied?

How Do Doctors Handle Emergencies and Concussions?

How Do Hospitals Ration the Blood Supply in Major Natural Disasters?

What Is Artificial Blood?

What Is Blood Doping, and How Does It Work?

What Is the Basic Procedure for Blood Donation?

What Medical Emergency That Required Quick Action Would Likely Occur in a Gunshot Victim in a Hospital ICU?

What Information Would Emergency Department Personnel Give Out Regarding a "John Doe"?

What Medical Expertise Would a Seasoned Commando Possess?

Can Firefighters Estimate the Survival Time of a Victim Trapped in an Airtight Enclosure?

Can Paramedics Determine If an Accident Victim Is Alive by Measuring Liver Temperature?

What Is the Difference Between a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist?

4. Medications and Drugs

What Are the Effects of the So-Called Date Rape Drugs?

How Do Drugs Alter the Size of the User's Pupils?

How Safe Is It to Handle Cyanide?

Will Food Intake Prevent Alcohol Intoxication?

How Dangerous Is It to Transport Heroin in a Swallowed Condom?

Can Opium Addiction Make Someone Violent?

Is Ritalin Useful in the Treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder, and How Can It Be Abused?

What Is Seasickness?

5. Diseases and Their Treatment

How Do Heart Disease and Angina Limit My Hero's Activities?

How Would an Allergy to Bee Stings Affect My Character's Lifestyle?

What Types of Malaria Exist?

What Exotic Diseases Are Prevalent in the Caribbean?

What Are the Symptoms and Signs of Spinal Muscular Atrophy?

What Type of Bacterial Meningitis Is Most Likely to Infect Adolescents?

Is Shock Therapy Effective Treatment for Severe Depression?

What Are the Symptoms of a Miscarriage?

What Complications of Pregnancy Would Lead to Hospital or Bed Confinement?

What Medical Emergency Would Expose a Young Woman's Secret Pregnancy?

What Is the Gulf War Syndrome?

II. Methods of Murder and Mayhem

6. The Effects of Guns, Knives, Explosives, and

Other Weapons of Death

Can a Stun Gun Serve as a Murder Weapon?

What Happens to the Victim of a Stun Gun Attack?

Will a Stun Gun Shock Others Who Are in Contact with the Victim?

What Would a "Bang Stick" Wound Look Like?

Is a Blow to the Head More Deadly in a Heart Patient?

Will Ground Glass in Food Kill a Person?

How Long Does It Take to Smother Someone with a Pillow?

How Does an Ice Pick to the Back of the Neck Kill?

What Are the Most Lethal Wounds That Can Be Made with a Knife?

What Structures Must Be Injured to Make a Stab Wound to the Back Lethal?

What Noises Are Made by Victims of Stabbings or Gunshots to the Neck?

Can Someone Who Has Been Stabbed in the Neck Speak?

Where Would an Intoxicated Person Have to Be Shot to Put Him in a Coma for Two Days?

How Did David Kill Goliath?

7. Poisons and Drugs

Is There a Drug or Poison That Mimics Death but Allows the Victim to Survive?

What Poison That Can Be Secreted in a Glass Will Kill Instantly When Swallowed?

Can Ingested Cocaine Kill?

What Happens in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?

What Duration of Exposure to Natural Gas Would Be Required to Kill a Person?

What Substance Could Be Added to Water to Hasten Death in Someone Stranded in a Desert?

Is There a Drug That Not Only Subdues a Victim but Also Erases Her Memory?

Is There a Toxic Pesticide That Can Be Disseminated by Fire or an Explosion?

Are Some Poisons Absorbed Through the Skin?

Does Jimsonweed Make an Effective Poison?

How Does the "Posture" of Strychnine Poisoning Work?

What Is the Lethal Dose of Strychnine in Humans and in Various Animals?

Is There a Poison That Causes Stomach Distention and Death?

How Deadly Are Death Cap Mushrooms, and What Do They Do to the Victim?

What Drug Available in the Nineteenth Century Could Be Used to Make a Victim Pliant but Awake?

What Were Some Common Poisons Available in Medieval Europe?

What Are the Effects of Rhubarb Ingestion?

Does Selenium Make an Effective Poison?

How Quickly Would Someone Die After Drinking Alcohol Laced with Xanax?

What Substance Can Be Added to a Fire-Eater's "Fuel" to Cause a Sudden and Dramatic Death?

8. Medical Murder

How Can Someone Who Is Undergoing Heart Surgery Be Murdered?

What Dose of Morphine Would Kill a Man Undergoing Cancer Treatment?

Can a Transfusion Reaction Be Used for Murder?

Can a Bee Sting Kit Be Altered to Result in the Death of the User?

Can Insulin Be Used for Murder? How?

Would Denying a Diabetic Insulin Cause Death or Just Illness?

Is There a Lethal Substance That When Given to a Patient Might Appear to Be a Hospital Blunder Rather than a Homicide?

What Drugs or Medicines Will Become Deadly When Combined with a MAO Inhibitor?

How Does a Physician Distinguish Between a Drug-Induced Fever and One from an Infectious Process?

Can a Patient Be Killed by the Rapid Injection of Potassium Intravenously?

If Someone with Tuberculosis Is Smothered, Would There Be Blood on the Pillow? 

III. Tracking the Perp

9. The Police and the Crime Scene

What Does the Wound from a Close-Range Gunshot Look Like?

Will a Bullet Fired at Close Range Exit the Skull, and If So, Will the M.E, Be Able to Use It for Ballistic Analysis?

Can Stored Blood Be Used to Stage a Death?

Would Glycerol Used as a Blood Preservative Likely Be Found in Blood Used to Stage a Crime Scene?

How So
on
Do Strangulation Bruises Appear?

When Does a Decomposing Body Begin to Smell?

Do the M.E. and Police Use Vicks VapoRub to Mask the Odor of Decomposing Bodies?

Does a Cold Room Delay Detection of the Odor of Body Decomposition?

How Long Does It Take for an Unburied Body to Skeletonize?

What Is Calor Mortis?

Under What Circumstances Is Body Mummification Likely to Occur?

Is It Possible to Obtain Fingerprints from a Mummified Corpse?

Does a Body Mummify If It Has Been Bricked into a Wall for Several Years?

Will a Body Encased in Concrete Mummify?

Is It Possible to Trick a Lie Detector?

Can an Intoxicated Person Fake a Field Sobriety Test?

Can Fingerprints Be Lifted from Human Skin?

10. The Coroner, the Crime Lab, and the Autopsy

Who Can Serve as Coroner?

When Are Autopsies Done, and Who Can Request Them?

How Detailed Are Routine Autopsies?

What Information Does an Autopsy Report Contain?

What Information Is Placed in a Death Certificate, and Who Can Sign It?